This poem makes a great point. It's one I've realized myself, so it resonates with me. It's so weird to single out days like New Year's Day or Valentine's Day so specifically, when each and every single day is a fine opportunity to make a change or show your appreciation for someone or something. If you want to kick a bad habit, adopt a new one or show how much you love someone, why wait?
I like how some of the lines rhyme, though the rhyme scheme isn't super strict. It gives the poem a certain rhythm.
It seems like you're writing a submission for something, and the setting, characters and plot were already chosen for you, so obviously, you were writing within those restrictions. I will just say that I like the setting of Vichy France, and the idea of a spy working to stop the Nazis and Nazi-sympathizing Vichy French is one I find really interesting.
For the decisions you made while writing this, I really like how you referenced specific brands of cars that were around back then, to create a historically realistic setting.
One scene that struck me was when she looked at the picture of the Nazi smiling with his family. You wrote a line about how such a warm photo humanizes the Nazi so much that it might make people second-guess what they're doing. Then the main character remembers what he's doing. I don't know whether she dismisses the smile as completely fake or just contradictory to what his party is doing.
I feel like that's something people do sometimes, where we dehumanize the villains of history or war. We sometimes act like there's no way they could have had loved ones they want to defend. We always seem surprised or incredulous when we find out that they sometimes did. Not to mention, they're doing the horrible things they do because they genuinely believe in them.
My personal reaction to that scene was that the Nazi probably, genuinely loved his wife and child, and he felt like the Nazi party was completely justified. Of course, it was an unforgivably anti-Semitic and violent political ideology, and his love for his family and his belief in the Nazi party, however genuine those things may have been, won't make him sympathetic.
The ambience was well done. Overall, the whole scene felt tense, like I'm waiting for something to happen, and I know it's going to happen. I definitely felt like I was watching a spy on a dangerous mission.
When we hear that about 620,000 men died in the American Civil War, that is such a large number that it's difficult to conceive it. And it's something happened long enough ago that it feels more like history than current affairs.
But the people in that war were experiencing that. All the fear and violence and uncertainty of that situation. That was their lives in those years.
Reading it in a history book, we still feel horrified, but can still distance ourselves from it. But when we look at it more personally, in more detail, it hits home just how awful it must've been.
620,000 deaths is a lot of tragedies for such a large number of families.
This poem does a good job of reminding us of the tragedy of war, however statistically abstract and historically removed it may feel. It is a somber poem, and it becomes even more somber when we consider that there would've been so many soldiers writing such letters.
Great list. Effect vs. affect always trips me up, so I always make sure to look it up to make sure I'm using the noun or verb correctly. At least I know to pay attention to that, haha.
Another one I can think of is how people often misspell "definite" as "defiant."
Instead of writing: "I definitely thought it was going to fall over."
They write: "I defiantly thought it was going to fall over."
I'm not even sure how that one happens, considering those words don't sound alike. I've always guessed spellcheck going awry, since I see that mistake all the time.
I like the theme about how important it is to break the cycle of abuse. The main character deciding she wasn't going to become like her mother, to avoid continuing her toxic behavior.
I like how the father starts off defending the mother, but then eventually comes around. He whines about people talking about their feelings all the time, then realizes he has feelings, too.
Holding people accountable for their bad habits, even if we love them, and finding ways to cope with our problems. It's a good lesson.
It's a really creepy story with good ambience. I like how it builds up to the climax with all the warnings that should've ticked the characters off: the cat acting weird, the old man at the top of the stairs, the doorbell going off for no explicable reason.
I also like the interaction between the two characters. one's worried, the other is incredulous.
A very powerful poem. It makes a great point. Everyone is hurt to varying degrees and cope differently with loss. Some people are hit harder, especially when they were that close to the departed. It takes them longer to cope with the loss. While some people will have already accepted it and moved on, others are still hurting.
I like how this is a poem about a tomato slipping away from someone's fork onto the floor and the two friends laugh about it, and yet it discusses it in such a rich, elaborate way. A piece of writing doesn't have to be about something grandiose or profound to be interesting. It can be spontaneous and fun just for the sake of it.
I remember hearing about those gummy bears! The reviews for them were some of the funniest (albeit disgusting) things I've ever read. I believe some of the reviews I've read even started by saying that they had heard the stories and didn't believe them, so I don't doubt Maxwell would find some eager customers.
I love how the title and prompt could easily apply to either the gummy bears or the two irresponsible employees.
I like the atmosphere of this poem. The first stanza makes me think of a stormy autumn day. I can just feel the wind blowing and that feeling you get in the air before it starts raining.
The second stanza makes me think about how farmers fit into the grander scheme of things. They harvest food which then goes to the consumers at stores or to other places where it's needed, like cattle fodder as the poem mentions. In the end, farmers and the food they grow and harvest are one part of an entire system, but they play a very important role in helping that system work.
I was reading through the story, waiting to see why the protagonist was so uncomfortable.
It was interesting to see that her suspicions were proven. Her gut feeling was telling her it wouldn't work out, and it turns out she would've been better off listening to it.
The twist at the end made me laugh, just because of how surprising and dark it was.
I remember those singing fish! This is a really funny poem. Only five lines but it tells a whole story about a girl getting so annoyed by her brother's toy that she gets rid of it to spite him. I can only imagine how pissed off he would be about that and how their sibling rivalry would only get worse after that.
The guilt that comes from failing in an impossible situation. It sounds like the narrator's loved one had a terminal illness of some sort, and the prognosis was so bad that the doctors presented euthanasia as a viable option. No wonder the narrator blames him/herself for the unfortunate decision he/she had to make, even though there was nothing he/she could have done.
It makes me want to reach out and say that the narrator did what he/she could, so he/she doesn't need to be too hard on him/herself.
It's a very lovely, romantic poem. I like the animism, the idea that the paper has its own being and its own desires, and it desperately wants to be used to write a love letter. Or perhaps the woman is projecting onto it as she's hit with inspiration and just feels the need to write? Either way, the passion and earnestness in this poem is very uplifting.
This is a really nice short story with a nice message to it. There are some grammatical mistakes and unidiomatic parts, but looking at your profile, it looks like English is not your first language.
This reminds me of a study I thought I read about somewhere. I haven't been able to find it since so maybe I imagined the whole thing as a result of the Mandela Effect or whatever.
In the study, they took some people who had never seen a show before and had them watch it and write in journals about their experiences. Half of the people were told to binge-watch it. The other half were told to limit themselves to one episode a night. The result was that the people who binge-watched remembered and picked up on more specific details. The people that paced themselves, however, enjoyed the show immensely more, specifically because of the anticipation of waiting for the next episode and hypothesizing about what was going to happen.
Like I said, I haven't been able to find this study since, so maybe I misremembered reading about it somewhere, but the idea stuck with me. The father talking about how important it is to slow down, enjoy the story and sit with the anticipation is something that resonates with me.
I like this poem. It makes me think of something I've come to realize in recent years. I'm not all that old, but there are some things back in high school and college that I sometimes think back on. Sometimes, I wonder how things would have turned out if things played out differently, but I've come to realize that's just working myself up for nothing.
The past is past. We can't go back to change it. Plus, some of the things in my life I think back on, I realize now I probably dodged a bullet, so there are quite a few things I wouldn't change, either.
It sucks to think about the one that got away, but eh, what can we do about it? What should we do about it? Sometimes, the only option is to accept it and move on.
Sounds like you and your hubby make Halloween really fun! It's a very picturesque description of all the decorations. The idea of walking in on someone sleeping in a coffin seems really funny, though I imagine he must've been embarrassed about it at the time.
We haven't done much for Halloween around here for the past few years, but I do like the overall aesthetic of the holiday.
This is a sweet and touching story. I like how the rocking horse has an entire story to it, related to the father leaving for war and his family staying behind and anxiously waiting. It really established the sentimental significance that the rocking horse has for the family.
There was also the roller coaster of emotions I felt throughout the story: concern when the father left, joy when the war ended, dread when the father hadn't come back yet, intense relief when he finally returned and awe when they found the horse.
An interesting story! A really tragic and heart-wrenching story of someone realizing their mistake too late. I like how it goes from describing her in general to talking about a recent event and then catches up to the twist in what was happening then. The first sentence taking place in the car and then going straight to describing her made me curious to see how it would all tie in. The way this story was framed was really effective for me.
It makes me feel sad, too, because I imagine there's a good chance this accident could be fatal if she's driving off a cliff. If she dies, then her last moments with her husband would've been a fight over whether to get chicken or hamburger and her storming off because they're both too stubborn to give in. In that case, I wonder what their last words might've been to each other.
I think it's a cute short story. I like the idea of souls reincarnating and having those connections from their previous lives play out in their new lives. I'm reading a webtoon with a similar idea, so it made me think of that.
It sounds like the guy was having an affair on his wife in his previous life and I'm curious as to how that came about. Maybe he fell out of love with her. Maybe he never really loved her and was pressured into marrying her. Maybe he was a playboy and didn't want a serious, long-term commitment until he met the main character. Honestly, I feel bad for his wife and I'm wondering how she felt about the situation, if she knew about it. Considering when it happened, if they were caught in a loveless marriage, they would have been stuck in it.
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